The present invention relates in general to a conventional rural type mailbox used on rural mail delivery routes, and more particularly to a rural type mailbox having sliding hooded tray inserts therein utilized to assist in the depositing and gathering of mail as well as protecting the mail from damage from adverse weather conditions.
There have been several different methods directed to inserting and removing mail from rural type mailboxes. Such rural mailboxes are generally mounted on wooden posts or poles alongside a road so as to be easily accessible for the post office to deliver mail. Unfortunately, it is not always convenient for delivery persons or homeowners to gain access to the rural type mailbox. It is often difficult for a person in a vehicle to position their window close enough to the mailbox in order to reach the mail that is in the mailbox and it is often impossible to even see and/or reach any mail that is located in the rear portion of the mailbox.
Because of the problems of inserting and retrieving mail in rural type mailboxes, there have been many different types of mailbox inserts that deal with the retrieval of mail, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,600,143 and 4,714,192 to Harlow et al, 4,753,385 to Phipps et al., 4,896,827 to Economon, 5,009,366 to van Druff, Jr. et al, and 5,083,703 to Blyakharov among others. These mailbox inserts do not protect the mail from adverse weather conditions such as harsh winds that can blow the mail out of the tray or rain that can cause the mail to get inconveniently wet while the mail is being inserted or retrieved. These mailbox inserts can also cause problems after extensive use and can no longer easily slide in and out of the mailbox.
The object of the present invention is to provide a mail tray insert that will provide long term easy retrieval and insertion of mail as well as protecting the mail as it is being retrieved from adverse weather conditions such as rain, wind, snow, slush and the like. My mail tray insert is hooded and is made of a transparent synthetic plastic material. Therefore the mail is protected from the top as well as the sides while being retrieved. Also, one can also easily look through the transparent hooded mail carrier and see if all of the mail has been retrieved instead of searching the mail tray by sense of feel. My sliding hooded mail carrier tray is also equipped with rails and rollers that make it easy for the hooded mail tray to slide in an out horizontally without the tray tipping or causing any undue friction on the mailbox or the mail carrier tray, therefore providing a mail carrier tray with a long life.